The present disclosure relates to non-destructive inspection (NDI) instruments, and more particularly to an instrument that is operable with multiple NDI sensor technologies, any one of which may be selected by the user.
Inspection service providers are among the largest users of NDI equipment. They have a broad customer base that requires many different inspection technologies to meet their inspection needs. For example, oil refineries require ultrasonic instruments to measure pipe and vessel wall conditions and detect flaws, aerospace companies require acoustic bond testing instruments to detect the composite material delamination, and eddy current instruments to detect cracks in metal surfaces of airplanes.
Ready access to these instruments by inspection service providers is of paramount importance because inspection events are often time critical and the type of inspection technology required is not always known with much advance notice. Due to economic constraints, it is not often practical to have a sufficient inventory of NDI instrument types to ensure that all inspection needs are met at any given time.
Another problem posed by the need for multiple NDI technologies concerns travel to remote and difficult to access inspections sites whether they are on land or at sea. Presently, the inspector needs to bring an application specific unit for each NDI technology required.
Previous attempts to mitigate these problems have involved integral and modular instrument packaging approaches. An example of a modular approach is the present assignee's OmniScan-MX product. This product has provisions for interchangeable acquisition modules, each that operate with a different NDI sensor technology; however, a separate acquisition module is required for each technology. Any one of the acquisition modules can be connected to a single processing/user interface unit which is significantly larger and heavier than any one of the acquisition modules alone.
The foregoing benefits described in relation to module interchangeability are accomplished to a lesser degree with the present assignee's Sonic, Bond Master and Nortec products, which are ultrasonic, acoustic and eddy current NDI technologies respectively. The interchangeability is limited to the display module alone; therefore, only it can be shared among the three base units each of which contains a different NDI technology. The base unit is much heavier and larger than the common display module.
An example of a system that is operable with multiple types of sensor technologies is Boeing corporation's MAUS-V product. The product employs a motorized scanner; each scanner is designed hold up to four sensors with spring-load mounts that adjust to complex contours. Up to four channels of full waveform ultrasonic or impedance plane eddy current data are collected at preset intervals as small as 1 degree. This data is stored on the computer disk and is later recalled for further review. Boeing MAUS-V product provides the usage of multiple sensors; however it has the drawbacks of using a computer and different data processing tools for data acquired from different types of sensors. The lack of using a common data acquisition and common data processing element in an integral and handheld enclosure presents an array of problems for field operation, including the weight and size of the product, the need for a lap top computer and high power consumption. The Boeing product does not allow battery operation. Another drawback is its high manufacturing cost.
An example of an integrally packaged multi-technology instrument is the MIZ-21SR eddy current and acoustic bond testing instrument provided by Zetec Incorporated of Snoqualmie, Wash., USA. However, this Zetec product does not allow the usage of conventional ultrasonic technology (i.e. >500 kHz) and there is no evidence showing that it employs a common sensor circuit and a data acquisition analog front-end and shares a common data processing. As a result, it failed to achieve the benefits of a versatile, high resolution instrument that allows smooth switching among usage of multiple sensors including UT, EC, acoustic, etc.
A example of an NDI system that uses shared circuit elements to minimize cost and circuit board size while providing different operating functions is disclosed in the present assignee's U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/192,369 (i.e. Drummy et al), the entire content of which is herein incorporated by reference. The primary drawback of Drummy's teachings is that they are limited to the use of a ‘set’ of analog to digital converters that can be selectively used for either a multiple sensor array probe or a single element probe. Accordingly, the problem of sharing only one analog to digital converter circuit element to be selectively used to operate with multiple types of sensor technologies is not solved.
Considering the background information above, a solution that provides a plurality of NDI technologies to service providers in a manner to minimize the number of instruments they are required to maintain would be of great economic and ergonomic value.